


Dusk Before Dawn

by Xancholis07



Series: Fire Emblem Awakening The Children [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Tragedy, pre-time travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 11:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4017895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xancholis07/pseuds/Xancholis07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little bird must leave the nest. Her mother cannot protect her anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dusk Before Dawn

Fire Emblem Awakening  
The Children  
Noire

“Noire. Bring me those bat wings and the vial of manakete scales.”

“Y-yes, Mother!” 

Moving as quickly as she could without knocking over anything, Noire hurried to the table. Scooping up the wings in one arm and the vial in the other, she returned to Tharja, hunched over her worktable. 

“H-here they are.” Noire said quietly. Her mother had been more irritable the past few days, so Noire had mostly tried to stay out of her way. Tharja had been working on some kind of talisman, but for what, Noire wasn’t sure.

“Put them down here.” Tharja didn’t turn around, merely tapping one of her long, black fingernails on the last remaining clear spot on the table. Noire complied immediately. With the Risen still on their doorstep, whatever Tharja was planning was the only hope she had. She couldn’t afford to be slowed down by her cowardly daughter…

Noire hurried to the window and looked down to the courtyard below. She couldn’t help letting a fearful yelp escape her as the living corpses continued to assault the magical barricade her mother had formed. Activating it had already carried a heavy cost…In order to buy time for Tharja to create it, her father had held off the Risen by himself.

“Noire! Come here!” her mother’s voice barked impatiently.

“C-coming!”

Tharja procured a small needle and pricked the end of her finger. She let a drop of blood fall into a small silver container, filled with crushed ingredients. Noire nervously waited for her to finish.

“Noire, give me your finger.” Tharja turned, reaching out for her. Noire complied, knowing it was best to simply do as her mother wished. Scared as she was, Noire knew Tharja knew what she was doing. The pin pricked her finger as well and Tharja directed the drop of blood to fall directly on top of her own.

“Alright…It’s almost ready…Soon…” Tharja whispered as she released her daughter’s hand.  
Noire sighed and bandaged her finger quietly. Her mother had never stopped working since her father died. She was obsessed with avenging him, but the Risen had them trapped inside their own home! She wasn’t sure how much longer even her mother could hold on.

A bright flash from outside jolted her from her thoughts. Noire hurried to the window, alongside her mother.

“Blast…These cursed abominations…” Tharja growled quietly.

The magical wall had been destroyed. A sorcerer Risen had dismantled it, somehow finding the knowledge in his ravaged mind. The Risen stormed the door, bursting toward the stairway leading straight to them.

Tharja turned, grasping Noire. “Here.”  
She placed the small, silver talisman in a small pouch and forced it into Noire’s hands. 

“…Mother?”

Tharja stood in the doorway, her tome in hand. “…Noire, take the secret staircase to the bottom of the cliff. Get out of here.”

Noire felt her heart sink. “But, Mother…w-what about you?!”

A loud rumble shock the room as the Risen reached the door. The bar they had placed over it wouldn’t stop them for long.  
“Noire! GO! NOW!” Tharja shouted, before starting to chant her first spell.

Noire hurriedly did as she said, picking up her bow and pulling the door to the stair open and closing it behind her. She could hear the sound of Risen screaming as they continued to beat the door down. She ran, until there was nothing but darkness around her.

 

Tharja’s fireball incinerated the first undead through the door. She fired spell after spell, backing up slowly to allow herself room to maneuver. But they never seemed to end, swarming all over, backing her in.

The sorcerer Risen had arrived at the top as well. It seemed more intelligent than the rest somehow…it was not focused on Tharja but seemed to be looking for…  
Its red eyes found the door.

“…Noire.” Tharja gasped.  
She quickly turned and broke into a run, getting between the Risen and the door. She couldn’t flee down the stair or they’d get to Noire. They had her trapped! Tharja looked solemnly behind her, and then back toward the Risen.

“…CURSE YOU ABHORRENT MONSTERS!” She screamed in anger, “I WAS FINALLY HAPPY FOR ONCE AND THEN YOU CAME! NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO GET MY DAUGHTER! AND ALL OF YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR TAKING AWAY MY HUSBAAAAND!!  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Noire looked up in horror as her home exploded in a burst of dark purple.

“No! MOTHER!!”

The entire building had been reduced to shambles. Ashes filled the air as Noire felt all the strength fade from her legs.  
“M-mother…Oh, M-mother!! Mother!!”

She didn’t know how long she sat there. Her tears just refused to stop coming.  
Her sobbing grew more and more fierce until a low growl surprised her.  
Risen! There had been more roaming down here as well!

“Aaaaieee!!!!” Noire screamed as she fell backwards. The pouch fell from her grasp and the talisman fell out, its dull silver sides not even reflecting the purple in the sky.  
Noire noticed a small note attached to it. She quickly pulled it off, wiping the tears from her eyes as she unfolded it.

 

Noire,  
If it has come to this, you’re on your own. I’ve failed to avenge your father and I’ve failed to protect you. I devised this talisman as a failsafe, my last remaining chance for you to live on. It will give you an iron will and indomitable courage. Use it and live.  
Avenge your father, Noire.  
And avenge me.

 

Noire’s hand found the talisman as she was reading. She pulled it close and tears continued to roll down her face.  
“M-mother…”

The Risen had her encircled. They lumbered closer and closer. She could smell the scent of death upon them and feel the very essence of evil they carried. Noire slowly bowed her head and her eyes closed, tears still streaming down them.

One reared back and with a scream that pierced the night air, lashed out with its axe.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------  
“We were too late, Lucina.”  
“Keep looking, Inigo. Don’t give up yet. We can’t.”  
“…Right.”

Inigo gave the board a soft kick. The entire house looked as if there had been a massive explosion. Even down here, lumber and stone littered the ground. The Risen had completely eradicated the area.

“There’s no one, Inigo?” Severa climbed over the boulder, slidding down next to him. Even her usual ferocity was lost at the aspect of yet another failed rescue. 

“Not yet.” The young man shook his head, “Did Lucina and Owain find anyone up the stairs?”

“…No.”

The two stood silently for a moment. Inigo shook his head and started to walk again.

“Well, if there IS someone, we won’t find them standing here. I’ll just-“ he broke off suddenly.

“Inigo? What is it? INIGO! HEY!” Severa shouted, walking over to him, “WHAT ARE YOU-?“

She fell silent immediately at the scene before them.

Dozens of dead Risen littered the ground, arrows filling their bodies. 

“What happened?” Severa breathed in awe.

“I-is someone there?” a quiet voice asked.

Inigo and Severa looked toward to source of the voice as a timid girl holding a bow lifted her head. She was sitting curled into a ball against the cliff, a desperate grip on the bow.

In her other hand, pressed close to her chest, was a small, unassuming pouch.


End file.
